Trial lawyers: Medical liability costs ONLY $56 billion per year!

Our medical malpractice system costs Americans, insurers, and the government $56 billion in increased costs every year.

[A] new study — published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs — found the annual cost related to medical liability is $55.6 billion. Most of that spending ($45.6 billion) is related to defensive medicine — the tests, drugs and other procedures that doctors prescribe in order to limit the risk of being sued for malpractice.

The report, according to the American Association for Justice (AAJ), “shows that limiting the rights of injured patients will do practically nothing to lower health care costs”…the lobbyist group said Tuesday in an e-mail.

Only $56 billion per year. Well, then it’s not even worth doing medical malpractice reform. $56 billion per year is barely enough for a good lobster dinner.